Occupy Boston to tackle student debt bubble in Cambridge

Boston Strike Debt will host a discussion about how to break the shackles of student debt. Credit: salon.com

Members of Occupy Boston are planning an afternoon of music, food, and what organizers describe as "serious discussion and strategic resistance" around the growing student debt bubble.

According to organizers, Boston Strike Debt is joining forces with New York Strike Debt and Oakland Strike Debt to create realistic approaches to fighting and eliminating student debt.

"Student debt affects not only college students, but graduates and parents mortgaging houses for kids. People in their 50s are still paying off debt," said Rich Levy, an organizer of Strike Debt.

"I got (to college) when you could actually pay for tuition. My daughter will be starting school, so it will get me soon," Levy said.

New York Strike Debt spearheaded The Rolling Jubilee and so far has bought and paid off more than $1 million in medical debt as a new tactic for emancipation of citizens from debt peonage, according to Levy.

Performers at the even include Rick Berlin and A Few Nickels and Dimes, Licious featuring Kelsey Brown and DJ Ultratumba.

Professor Dan Clawson of the University of Massachusetts Sociology Department and co-author of "The Future of Higher Education" will present on the growing student debt crisis.

"In most of Northern Europe, a college education is free. If we were spending less on the military and if large corporations were paying their taxes ... we would not be mortgaging our futures in order to get an education," Levy said.

The free event is open to all, and will happen upstairs at The Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub in Cambridge on Saturday at 2 p.m.